Asir Emirate has requested that the governor of Bisha resolve the situation of four people who have spent between six months and nearly two years in a Bisha prison without a trial. An urgent report on their cases has also been demanded. Two of the four were detained in financial investment cases– the first in May of 2007, and the second on the last day of December, 2007. The remaining two were held on July 31, 2008, accused of fighting, using firearms, and robbery. The branch head of the Commission for Investigation and Prosecution in the region informed the Asir Emirate of reports he had received from the Head of the Investigation Circuit in Bisha, that “there are detainees in Bisha Prison who have spent six months without being taken to court or having any Shariah ruling issued against them. This is a violation of Article 114 of the Penal Measures Regulation.” Abdullah Dehaim Al-Dossari, the head of Bisha Prison said: “Asir Emirate is the authority to deal with those detained in financial investment cases.” Al-Dossari said his administration always informed the Emirate of any prisoner who has been in prison for six months without a trial. “Cases differ,” Al-Dossari said, “and some of them need more than six months for a verdict, as all the necessary procedures must be completed, procedures which are ultimately in the interests of the prisoner.
